Cherry Red Jeeps
by Charlene Edwards
Summary: Bruce gets Dick a new car for college ... Dick has other ideas ...


Title: Cherry Red Jeeps Author: Charlene Edwards Rating: PG Disclaimer: DC owns not me Synopsis: Dick needs a car to go to college with. Trouble ensues. Unbeta'ed. I hope you all enjoy. Char :-)  
  
Cherry Red Jeeps:  
  
They stood in the lot at the Gotham Central Auto Park. Eighteen year old Dick Grayson just turned around and around looking at all the possibilities. "Bruce this is soooo cool. You buying me a new car for college. This is an awesome surprise."  
  
"Umhm"  
  
Dick grinned wide at Bruce's non-verbal response, then his eyes went wide as he spied a solid black Mustang GT. He grabbed Bruce by the arm and dragged him toward the car. "Lookit that! I want that!"  
  
"That's the first thing you've seen."  
  
"Love at first sight."  
  
"No."  
  
"No?"  
  
"This is not what I had in mind," Bruce replied as he pulled his young charge away from the speed machine. "We need something more ... practical."  
  
"Practical?" Dick asked with a grimace. "I want cool not practical."  
  
"You are NOT taking a high end vehicle to Hudson University. The thing'll get hacked up for parts in a week."  
  
____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________  
  
"I like this," Bruce said quite proud of himself.  
  
"NO! You gotta be joking! Bruce come on, tell me you're joking, please," Dick whined as Bruce stood beside the white Dodge Neon.  
  
"I think this is a perfectly acceptable automobile."  
  
"But Bruce, its the kind of car old ladies buy when they're trying to be cool!"  
  
"Yes, Dick, I'm aware of that. It's low to the ground, it has bucket seats. You won't be making out in it any time soon, nor will you be flying over speed bumps, drag racing, or doing any off-road ANYTHING in it."  
  
"But Bruce .... " he whined as his eye fell back on the cherry red jeep. His first love had quickly changed when he saw the jeep. "Look at how pretty that jeep is."  
  
"Your choice -- the Neon or the mini van we looked at."  
  
Dick's foot scuffed the pavement. "The Neon," he mumbled.  
  
"Did I hear a thank you in there?"  
  
Dick rolled his eyes. "Thank you for the Neon. BUT I want the jeep."  
  
"Noted."  
  
"I'll have NO social life with that thing," Dick said pointing at the Neon.  
  
Bruce smiled at the thought and replied. "Think of it this way, Dick, not only will you have no social life so you'll be able to study, but no one'll touch the thing."  
  
____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________  
  
As they walked back toward the dorm building, Bruce saw the little white Neon parked in it's student parking space. Dick was still talking about the different places on campus that they had walked past, noting which were his most and least favorite places along with the places he hadn't ventured inside since arriving on campus a week ago. Bruce listened intently as Dick regaled him with tales of his first week of school as Bruce headed toward the car.  
  
Dick stopped suddenly when he saw the direction Bruce had taken. "Uh -- the room's this way," he called out.  
  
Bruce turned back toward his son with a smile, "I want to check out the car."  
  
"The car," Dick mouthed as he sprinted toward Bruce.  
  
"Toss me the key," Bruce requested.  
  
Dick pulled it out of his pocket and handed the keys to the older man. He watched as Bruce unlocked the car and sat behind the wheel starting the engine.  
  
"You're keeping the car a lot cleaner than I thought you would," Bruce said as he looked around. Bruce noted the odometer reading. "Dick, you haven't put a mile on the car since you got here."  
  
"Yeah, I know," Dick responded quickly. "I've been busy studying. And as you can see, you can walk anywhere on campus you want to." Besides I want to keep the mileage low so I can trade this in for my jeep, he thought to himself.  
  
Bruce smiled as he stood from the car and relocked the door. "I'm proud of you."  
  
Dick beamed at Bruce. Well, he had been studying. Both in his classes AND how to get the jeep. "Come on, let me show you my room. You requested I have a private room, didn't you?"  
  
"I thought it would be ... prudent." Bruce handed the car title to Dick, "This came in the mail this past week."  
  
"Awesome," Dick smiled. Just what he needed.  
  
____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________  
  
"Master Bruce," Alfred began as he entered the study. He noticed Bruce was busily going through Wayne Tech reports. Probably looking at prototype designs and seeing which ones he might want to 'appropriate' for his nightly work.  
  
Bruce looked up from his papers, "Yes Alfred."  
  
"Telephone for you Sir. It's Captain Simmons from the Hudson University Campus Police."  
  
"Campus Police?" Bruce asked, concern in his tone. Quickly, he picked up the phone receiver. "This is Bruce Wayne ... yes Richard Grayson is my s...ward. Yes. He WHAT? Thirty-seven tickets! Just last week. Speeding -- not all speeding. He ... WHAT! A TREE! Are you absolutely sure that you're talking about Dick? ... Yes, well ... it just doesn't sound like ... that's not his license plate. He drives a white ... a WHAT? A red jeep! Yes, thank you Captain. ... Yes, I will take care of this matter." Bruce slammed the telephone receiver on the base.  
  
Alfred could tell Bruce was quite angry by the way his face had changed colors during the telephone conversation. "Bad news, Master Bruce?" he asked in his usual dole manner.  
  
"I'm gonna kill that kid!"  
  
"Batman doesn't kill," Alfred reminded as he started straightening the papers on the desk.  
  
"It's justifiable homicide." Bruce picked up the phone and dialed the number to the Gotham Auto Park. "This is Bruce Wayne, may I speak with Clay Stafford please." He waited for the man to pick up. "Did Richard trade the Neon in? ... For a jeep. ... Yes I see. ... He said I was ok with it. ... Paid the difference on his credit card, did he. ... Thanks Clay." Bruce's blue eyes bored into Alfred, "Yep, I'm killing that kid."  
  
____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________  
  
Dick was propped against the headboard of his bed. He was laughing as his friend Mandy sat on his right and Jenny sat on his left. Yes he liked this private room idea Bruce had had. It was a VERY good idea. They were SUPPOSE to be studying for the English quiz they were scheduled to have tomorrow. They weren't however.  
  
"Dick you are so cool," Mandy was saying as she was obsessing over his CD player. She had never seen one capable of changing twenty CD's before. "You have the coolest stuff."  
  
Jenny was giggling in agreement. "Are you going to the Kappa Psi party tonight?"  
  
"I don't know about that. I -- " he stopped in mid sentence as his door slammed open. His eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped as he watched an obviously very angry Bruce Wayne enter the room.  
  
"WHERE'S THE NEON, DICK?"  
  
"Whhhaaattt are you doing here?" Dick stuttered. "Huh? The ... what?"  
  
"Care to explain the jeep or the thirty-seven traffic and parking violations you've received in the past week?" a red-faced Bruce Wayne asked as the two giggling girls managed to walk around him and leave the room, shutting the door behind them.  
  
A nervous laugh escaped Dick's mouth, "They called you about that?"  
  
"Yes they called me about that! What did you think? Oh wait, you DIDN'T think, did you! You're grounded!"  
  
"Grounded?" he asked as he realized the girls weren't in room. "Aw, man. Bruce, you made Mandy and Jenny leave! We were going to 'study' tonight!"  
  
"There will be no studying for you because you're GROUNDED," Bruce said forcefully.  
  
"But I HAVE to study. That's why I came to school," Dick countered.  
  
Bruce glared at him with Batman's eyes. "Study by yourself. Not with others. Not with... with GIRLS! Or the car!"  
  
"Are you gonna take the jeep?" Dick asked meekly.  
  
"YES, I'M TAKING THE JEEP. What do you think? I'm taking it back, and you're getting the Neon! When I allow you behind a wheel again." Bruce paced around the dorm room. He didn't realize how small the room actually was. He hated being angry with Dick. He hated that Dick has acted so irresponsibly. Bruce was ... disappointed in him.  
  
"PLEASE don't take the jeep, please. I'll be good!"  
  
"Richard, you uprooted a tree. People who uproot trees don't keep jeeps. I gave you the Neon for a reason. This is the reason."  
  
"I didn't know the tree belonged to anyone!" Dick whined as he bite his bottom lip. "Please ... pleeeaaaseee, don't sell my jeep. I need my jeep."  
  
Bruce looked into the wide blue eyes that begged him. "Fine. You're grounded from the car until the end of the semester. If you give me straight A's, we will discuss you keeping the jeep. However, you'll take whichever one I give you and you'll be grateful."  
  
"Yes sir. I'll be grateful -- but I'll be more grateful with the jeep."  
  
Bruce glared at him and continued to speak, trying to ignore that bit of -- teenager-- that had to have inadvertently slipped out of Dick's mouth. Dick had been a decent human being and then he became a teenager and he started hanging around with -- "I blame the Titans."  
  
Dick looked at him incredulously, "What?"  
  
"No Titans until the end of the semester. No other 'nightly activities' until the end of the semester."  
  
"But .... but ... what IF the world needs saving?"  
  
"They'll be saving it alone. You will be doing homework for freshman studies," Bruce replied flatly.  
  
Dick rolled his eyes. "Do you think the Titans could save the world without me?"  
  
Bruce smirked, "Then I guess they get to stay at home. It's Roy, isn't it? Roy does something stupid and you feel you have to reciprocate. Titans Together."  
  
Dick looked at Bruce though innocent eyes. "What did Roy do?"  
  
Bruce moved across the room and looked at the posters Dick had hung on his walls. Shaking his head, he continued talking, "He crashes into the front window of a department store with his motorcycle, and you have to uproot a tree."  
  
Dick's eyes grew wide, "He did? He didn't tell me that? When'd he do that? Why'd he do that? Man, how much trouble did HE get into? Did he get into more trouble than me?"  
  
"Ollie strung him up and left him for the police. Which is exactly what is going to happen to you, if you don't behave," Bruce growled.  
  
Dick's mouth dropped in an O. "He ... he got arrested? Ollie let him get arrested? I could get arrested for the tree?" The last part was added in panic.  
  
Bruce turned and faced Dick squarely, "You SHOULD have been arrested for the tree. The fact that you belong to me is the only reason you weren't arrested for the tree."  
  
Dick sat on the foot of his bed. "I didn't know you could get arrested for assaulting a tree."  
  
"It's called damage to real property, Dick. The little old lady who owns the tree wasn't happy to wake up and find her tree missing. In the future, just assume all trees belong to someone unless you are informed otherwise. How do you propose to work off your debt to society?" Bruce asked as he looked down at the young man before him. When had he grown up?  
  
Dick sighed and pulled his keys out of his pocket. He rolled the jeep's keys off his key ring and handed it to Bruce. "I thought that was being grounded from life for the rest of the semester."  
  
Bruce smiled as he took the keys, "That's your debt to me. Society's another matter."  
  
Dick leaned back on the bed resting his elbows on the navy blue comforter. He seemed deep in thought. Then he smiled and looked up into the blue eyes of Bruce Wayne. "Well ... I could plant a tree. How about that?"  
  
Bruce nodded and smiled. "Plant a tree. That sounds like a good idea. In fact, I'm sure the National Arbor Day Foundation would appreciate you planting MANY trees. Ten I think will do it."  
  
Dick sat up. "I can do ten trees."  
  
"Ten for every citation you received."  
  
Dick's eyes grew very wide as his mouth dropped open. "Ten for ... that's...that's three hundred and seventy trees."  
  
"Obviously you learned some math here as well as how to be a criminal. Three hundred and seventy sounds like a good number. Yes, that will be acceptable. Along with working for Mrs. Samuelson. Doing whatever she needs you to do until she feels that you've worked off the tree."  
  
Dick fell backwards on the bed. He grabbed his pillow and covered his face with it mumbling incomprehensibly. Bruce bit his lip to keep from laughing. It wouldn't be good to laugh while meting out punishment.  
  
A loud banging resonated on his door from the outside along with shouts "Come on Grayson, keg party at Kappa Psi house."  
  
Bruce growled, "Kegger?"  
  
Dick sat up as if he had a spring in him. He pointed to the door, "oooooo -- - I'm not going to that. I wasn't planning ON going to that. They always bang on the doors letting everyone know when something's going on."  
  
The banging continues, "Dude, are you coming?"  
  
"Inform them they are not to come knocking until you are a senior," Bruce ordered.  
  
Dick nodded his head. "I will." He looked at Bruce who was still staring at him. "Do you mean now?"  
  
"YES. They don't seem to be going away, do they?"  
  
"I was sort of hoping they would," Dick whimpered as he dragged himself over to the door and opened it to see two of his friends standing there. They reached out for his arms to pull him into the hall. Dick stepped back where they could see Bruce in the room as well. "Uh -- I can't go." He pointed behind him, "My ... uh ... Dad ... is here and uh ... I can't go to keggers until I'm twenty-one and I'm," he looked back at Bruce and sighed as he faced his friends again, "grounded for the rest of the semester." He silently added "and I'm going to die."  
  
His two friends laughed, "Maybe your old man wants to come too! Come on, Dick's Dad! You know you want to! Everybody's doing it." A few more guys walked up and looked into the room.  
  
Bruce smiled, "No! I don't think so!"  
  
One of the newer boys spoke up, "Hey guys, you wanna know who he looks like? He looks like that rich guy. The one from Gotham."  
  
Dick whimpered as he laid his head in his hand.  
  
The tallest of the boys turned to the group, "But that guy wouldn't buy his kid a neon! And a white one at that!"  
  
"Yeah, what kind of lame-o dad are you, anyways?" another of the guys asked.  
  
Bruce walked over with his widest Brucie smile, "Are you Richard's friends. I'm Bruce Wayne!"  
  
A very loud whimper was heard through the hand covering Dick's face. He looked up at his friends on what he was sure was going to be the last night of his life. "Can you guys just go ON to the party? Okay!"  
  
"Dude, no man, we wanna hang with your dad! He has chicks! Can he hook us up with some of his chicks." They look up at Bruce, "Come on both of you guys go. Dick never goes to these things. Just this once. Ground him starting tomorrow."  
  
The tallest guy started, "Forget that, I wanna know about these chicks Dick's dad gets."  
  
That was it. Dick threw his hands in the air. "EXCUSE ME HERE!!!! I'm in the process of losing the jeep and getting my ass grounded -- do you like MIND!" He pushed them out of the room and slammed the door with a nervous laugh. "Kids down the hall."  
  
Bruce pushed at his cheek with his tongue as he said, "Maybe you should commute."  
  
"I can't commute. I don't have a car. Why don't I just go home with you for the semester and start again fresh in the spring -- somewhere else -- where they don't know me. Where all the campus cops don't know me."  
  
Bruce looked at him, pretending to be in deep thought, "Well, in that case ... NO! All the campus cops now know me. They all now have my card. If they ever have to write your name on a report again, I find out immediately."  
  
"Geez -- overreact much."  
  
"Mrs. Samuelson and her missing tree," Bruce retorted.  
  
"I'm gonna plant it back," Dick whined. "One of the thirty seven trees I'm gonna plant."  
  
"Three hundred and seventy. But that was a good try Richard." Bruce took Dick by the hand and moved to the bed with him. Together they sat down. Bruce looked into Dick's young eyes. "I worry, Dick."  
  
"I really wasn't going to that party," Dick started when Bruce held up his hand silencing him.  
  
"I know that. I do trust you. But I have to tell you that your behavior with the jeep and the tickets has disappointed me." Dick looked down at the floor and started rubbing his foot back and forth on the carpet. "I'm very disappointed in you and this is way beyond disobedience and getting your way. You've broken the law thirty-seven times and used this campus as your personal raceway and parking lot. Your actions have been criminal and disrespectful to me and the students of this campus."  
  
Dick sighed, "I ... well .. I don't know why --"  
  
"You were deceitful and dishonest. You plotted to get what you wanted and lied to get it. That is not the boy I thought I raised," Bruce said quietly as his eyes bored into Dick.  
  
Dick looked up at him, their eyes meeting. "Lied? I ... I ... lied? I didn't lie."  
  
"A lie by omission is still a lie. You didn't tell me the truth about the Neon. You wanted the jeep. I said no. You continued undeterred until you got exactly what you wanted. You paid the difference in the vehicles on your credit card. YOU didn't tell me what happened with the tickets, the school had to. That is not responsible."  
  
Standing, Dick walked to the window wringing his hands. "I ... that's not what I meant to happen ... I .... oh man. I ... I'm so sorry."  
  
"No, what you meant to happen was to pull one over on me. Because I didn't GIVE you exactly what you wanted. I thought you were better than this Richard. At least I hoped you were." Bruce stopped for a moment before resuming. "No, I know you are."  
  
Tears had started rolling from Dick's eye as he turned to face Bruce. "I ... I don't know why I did what I did. There's no excuse for it. I ... I am sorry. Please .... please ... what can I do ... how can I make it up to you?"  
  
A sad smile formed on Bruce's face as he moved to his son. "You need to be the person you are. You are someone to be proud of. You need to remember that and act like it. I understand these actions. They're my fault."  
  
Dick looked at Bruce with confusion in his eyes. "Your ... fault."  
  
"Obviously, I haven't given you everything you need. Like Ollie and Roy. I hoped that we weren't like them. Dick....you....you don't think our relationship is like Ollie's and Roy's do you?"  
  
"Um ... no ... not really." Dick shook his head, "We ... we're not." Dick was uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. "Hey, you never told me ... did Roy get arrested?"  
  
"Ollie let him get handcuffed, then offered to take the little delinquent off the cops' hands. Then he took him home and kicked him out of the townhouse."  
  
"Kicked him out ... of his home?"  
  
"I thought you may have spoken with him. It seems he's staying in Dinah's apartment. She's never there anyway because she's always at Ollie's. Ollie told him that he was nineteen and he could get out get a job and get a life and stop sponging off of him. The boy needs supervision, not abandonment. He needs to stop being selfish and take care of his boy."  
  
Dick looked at Bruce though tear-filled eyes. "You're not like him and ... and I'm not like Roy. I didn't do all this to try and get your attention. I know I don't have to act stupid. I just acted stupid. I'm eighteen, it's the great age of stupidity. It's nice to know no matter how stupid I get that you'd never kick me out. I promise you, from now on, I'm going to be the boy you want me to be."  
  
Bruce smiled as he placed his hand on Dick's shoulder, "You already are. I'm proud of you. Even when I'm ready to wring your neck over this escapade, I'm still proud of you."  
  
Blushing, Dick looked at him, "Thanks. You shouldn't be though. I messed up big time."  
  
Bruce pulled him closer, "How could I not be proud of you, I mean ... thirty-seven tickets in one week. It must be a record. Now as to what you can do, we've already discussed your punishment. I think by showing me that you are the responsible young adult that I thought you were, things will be back on track. At the end of the semester, maybe sooner, we'll discuss your getting the car back and your 'suit'."  
  
Dick smiled, "Car or jeep?"  
  
"You are incorrigible. You'll be grateful for whatever I return to you. You are lucky that you're not having to apologize to the entire campus over the public address system during the next football game."  
  
Dick winced, "That was Alfred's idea wasn't it?"  
  
Bruce smiled broadly, "Uh huh. He said, however, that a more appropriate punishment would be material deprivation. To that end, he only sent one dozen cookies and four meals. He insisted that was a hard-line position and to give less was barbarous torture of the uncivilized. I bow to his wisdom," Bruce said as he handed a basket to Dick.  
  
"You two are the best, you know that," Dick said as he sat the basket on the desk by the window and started scrounging for a cookie. Suddenly, he was having a chocolate attack. He thought of his friends getting inebriated on beer. How stupid when they could have Alfred's chocolate. NOT that he'd share.  
  
"Well, we can't have you starving. However, Alfred expects an appearance at dinner for the next couple of weekends so you aren't completely off the hook."  
  
Looking up from his basket, his mouth full of cookie, he asked, "Um ... how exactly am I getting home since you're taking the jeep?"  
  
"Son, it's called a bus."  
  
"Bus? you're gonna make me ride a ... bus."  
  
"Public transportation will give you a healthy regard for the privilege of private ownership."  
  
"When I'm at home, can I at least sit behind the wheel of the jeep?"  
  
"No. You can sit behind the wheel of the Neon however. I went and bought it before coming up here today."  
  
Dick fell across his bed. "Aw man. Not the Neon."  
  
THE END 


End file.
